Mary’s Place Family Stories

Mee & Doua

Before coming to Mary’s Place, Mee and Doua and their 5 children had been bouncing back and forth between having their own home and living with family members. Their bad experiences with landlords caused them to keep losing their home. Their family members welcomed them to move in, but it would only last for so long until their family members would change their mind and ask them to leave (or worse, threaten to take them to court). All of this back and forth and uncertainty was too overwhelming – enough was enough - so Mee decided she was going to bring their family to meet Mary Jo to see if they would be accepted for a chance to live at Mary’s Place.

Mee says, “Mary’s Place has given us a chance to start over. When we first moved into Mary’s Place, I was depressed. My world was upside down. It was hard for me to move forward with so much that had piled on us.

But Mary Jo saw me and helped me. She led me to the chapel at Mary’s Place and prayed for me and with me. This is something no one had ever done for me. Our chapel time is what I cherish the most because she really lifts me up to see a better version of myself. From there, everything started to flow more gracefully. Even though we were in a pandemic, I felt happier. We saved most of our pandemic funds. If we did not need it, we did not buy it. We have saved over $15,000. This is so meaningful to us. It is like a new light is twinkling in to take away the darkness.

Mary Jo is an Angel sent from above. She has the most gigantic heart, sees the good in everyone, and does not judge. She is so generous and kind. She has so much faith. She never gives up hope on anyone. She opens her arms without hesitation to total strangers and welcomes them into her home. I believe fate had this all planned out. God pulled our family here so Mary Jo could help give us another chance to make ourselves better. We love Mary Jo so much!”

Amy

"When I made the decision to ask for help and I saw Mary Jo’s smiling face and she told me I didn’t have to worry anymore, I cried. Mary Jo cried with me and prayed with me. I had a sense of relief that’s hard to explain. I never wanted to face this kind of struggle again and I made huge changes in my life to try to be a financially stable single mom. I went to CDL training and received my Class A License and started driving semi trucks in construction – making more money than I’ve ever made in my life. I did that to gain construction experience to make myself appealing to the Equipment Operators Union. I took the tests and was invited to interview with the union for their pre-apprentice training program. Out of 500+ applicants, I was one of 10 people chosen to go through their training program and was placed at my first company as an Operating Apprentice.

My first year, I spent 12 hours a day shoveling for weeks straight – working longer days and doing more physical labor than I’ve ever done in my life. In road construction you work at least 60 hours a week and I didn’t give up even when I wanted to (because my body hurt so much). By this year, though, my body started hurting to the point of nausea. I wanted to throw up because my hips hurt so much. I told my boss I was going to go to the doctor to figure out what was going on. After seeing several doctors and specialists, I found out that I have a soft tissue disorder that affects the cartilage in my joints. I have tears in both my hips requiring hip replacement surgery. Due to my anatomy, these tears can’t be fixed with just minor surgery. I was finally told last week by my doctor that I can’t go back to construction even after my surgery because all of my joints have been affected by this soft tissue disorder.

I have an appointment soon for genetics testing at the Mayo Clinic which is right around the time I should be returning back to work again, so it’s devastating knowing I can’t. But Mary Jo continues to pray with me every week, giving me hope. I’m trying to stay strong for my children. They, of course, are having a hard time with all of this, but Mary Jo – even in her most busy times – will take time to talk to my children when they’re sad or scared. Mary Jo is our rock and she reminds us of God’s love just by the constant love and care she shows us. Mary Jo works tirelessly – yet when I’m in her chapel praying with her, time stops for a moment, and she cries with me. She sees hundreds of people everyday, but she cares about every single individual that comes through her doors. God definitely works through Mary Jo and I want to be more like her because of the hope and love that she brings to people. Those are the things I think about when I start to feel sorry for myself and I start asking, “Why, God?” I think of Mary Jo and her unending hope and love for all of us and thank God instead. I thank Him for my beautiful children, a roof over our heads, food to eat, and last but not least for Mary Jo Copeland."

Paris & Ernesto

Paris and Ernesto have 7 children. They came to Minneapolis from Cass Lake in February because Paris was pregnant with twin girls and there were complications: the twins were conjoined with a long list of medical diagnosis. Paris needed to be in Minneapolis with access to the best medical resources. Just days after arriving in Minneapolis, Paris went into labor. Because Paris and Ernesto did not have time to set up a place to live, the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital set up a hotel for their family and they stayed there for a few months until being placed at the Ronald McDonald House.

In the spring, their twin girls had a very risky surgery to separate them. The surgery was successful, but over the next several months Paris and Ernesto had to worry about the girls getting enough oxygen, lungs collapsing, respiratory failure, and more surgeries. Finally in the fall, the twins were ready for discharge but would need 24 hour nurse care. And unfortunately the Ronald McDonald House was no longer a housing option for their family. Paris, Ernesto, and all of their children had to return to the hotel again. Then their doctor told Paris and Ernesto about Mary Jo and Sharing and Caring Hands. Paris and Ernesto figured they had nothing to lose in trying, so they came and asked Mary Jo for a place to stay. 

Paris says, “Mary Jo accepted us and placed us in a wonderful apartment. We are so thankful for Mary’s Place. Mary Jo allows the 24 hour nurse care to be with us in our Mary’s Place apartment as our daughters continue their healing and recovery. Ernesto has been working full-time and I have been able to stay on top of all of the medical appointments. We have money in a savings account and our older children get to have fun at the Children Center. If Mary Jo would not have opened her arms to us, I do not know what we would have done. Mary’s Place has kept our family together.”

Joycelyn & Christopher

"My family was living in St. Paul and I had been working at Starbucks for 14 years. But I had a brain aneurysm, high blood pressure, and diabetes and was suffering from multiple health conditions and illnesses. I was constantly back and forth between the hospital and my neurologist. And I was told that if I did not keep up with appointments that I could die. Because of all my medical appointments, we could not keep up with our work hours, our rent, and ended up having to move out of our home. We could not find another place in time so moved in with a relative. But that relative was taking advantage of us. It was really difficult to live like that but we had nowhere else to go.

Eventually that living situation became too stressful so we went to Ramsey County for shelter help. We were told all of their shelters were full and we would have to go on a waiting list. My caseworker then told us to try Mary’s Place in Minneapolis. We arrived at Sharing and Caring Hands at 8:00am and were the first in line. Our kids were crying but my husband told them that God will give us the strength to hold on and that he had heard that Mary Jo might be able to help us. Soon enough one of Mary Jo’s employees walked up to us and asked what we needed. My husband told him we were homeless and needed a place to stay. The employee led us to where we could sit and rest our bodies and told us to wait for Mary Jo to talk to us.

It did not take but a few short minutes before Mary Jo came straight over to us and asked us our story. We told her about my medical issues, how we had lost our home, and my husband said “I cannot do this all on my own, I need help.” Mary Jo looked at us and said “I am going to help you!” She gave me $100 and had a Mary’s Place family advocate bring us to Mary’s Place and upstairs to our new apartment.  When the door opened and we saw inside, we were so happy and thankful! We all fell to our knees with tears rolling down our cheeks. We immediately started praying and thanking God for the blessing Mary Jo gave us! Since we moved in, I have had brain surgery, seizures, and my blood pressure continues to be high. But the entire staff has been so loving and supportive to our family. They all truly love us here. Mary Jo and my family advocate continue to tell me to rest and focus on my health and recovery. They constantly assure me that we can stay until I can get better and that our family is safe here. This always brings tears to my eyes. We appreciate everything Mary Jo and her staff has done and continues to do for us. Mary Jo has taught us gratefulness, patience, kindness, love, family, and God. Mary Jo saved our family. We love her. She is our angel."